UF’s 80-Voice Concert-Chorale to Present ‘The Many Moods of Christmas’

The University of Findlay’s Concert-Chorale will present “The Many Moods of Christmas” by Robert Shaw and Robert Russell Bennett at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, in the Winebrenner Theological Seminary.

The 80-voice choir is conducted by Micheal F. Anders, Ph.D., and accompanied by a 40-piece live orchestra.

Tickets for “The Many Moods of Christmas” are available in advance or at the door. Tickets are free, however, tickets are very limited. Tickets may be reserved at the UF box office, located in the Alumni Memorial Union, or by calling 419-434-5335. Please reserve tickets early to assure seating.

“The Many Moods of Christmas” is an album of 18 traditional Christmas carols grouped together into four suites. In 1963, American choral conductor Robert Shaw worked together with famed Broadway orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett to arrange the carols for large chorus and orchestra. Some of the familiar Christmas carols included on the program will be “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “Away in a Manger,” “The First Noel” and “Deck the Halls.”

Shaw recorded “The Many Moods of Christmas” twice. The first recording dates from 1963 and features the Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra. It was released by RCA Victor. Twenty years later, in 1983, and two years after the death of Bennett, Shaw again recorded “The Many Moods of Christmas,” this time in digital stereo and with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. This recording was released in December on the Telarc label.

Robert Shaw (April 30, 1916 – Jan. 25, 1999) was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Robert Shaw Chorale, the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. During his long career, he drew tremendous attention to choral music and came to be considered the “dean” of American choral conductors.